Business Woman of the Year announced

Rosi Johnson, chief executive officer of Mississippi Music and the Mississippi Music Acceptance Corporation, was named the Mississippi Business Journal’s Business Woman of the Year 2011, today at a luncheon at the Jackson Hilton.

More than 450 people attended. Johnson was chosen from among her peers in the 2010 Class of 50 Leading Business Women.

Prior to being named CEO of Mississippi Music in 2002, Johnson served as the company’s chief financial officer for two decades. Although she holds a degree in accounting, Johnson possesses a vast knowledge of musical instruments, from the largest grand piano to the tiniest flute.

Johnson has committed the company to advances in technology and changed its computer software system. A great believer in music education, Johnson’s mission with Mississippi Music is to create lasting partnerships and life-long music makers. Additionally, the University of Mississippi graduate’s warm, engaging and direct management style has created a happy and friendly environment for employees and customers alike.

Johnson gives the credit for her ‘can-do’ attitude to in-laws, James W. and Mac Johnson, who founded Mississippi Music in 1946, and her parents, the late Ben Kling and Ella Mae Kling. Rosi Johnson’s hard work and dedication to the company has placed one of Mississippi’s oldest and most iconic companies as among the most successful and long-lived music stores in the nation.